Why Gut Health is Sexy w/ Tina Anderson

Become the CEO of your own medical health. I always say become like the CEO of your own sex life. Like you guys gotta figure it out. Cause it's so different. It's so bio individual. On this show I try to give people like I'm not prescriptive. I'm not telling you guys to go out and do any one thing. I'm just trying to give you the information so you can make better choices for your overall health and wellness. You're listening to Sex with Emily. I'm Dr. Emily and I'm here to help you prioritize your pleasure and liberate the conversation around sex. On today's episode, you'll learn what low libido, keeping the spark alive, erectile challenges and gut issues all have in common. Now this is a buzzy topic that is more than just a headline because here's the facts. Our gut health influences our sexual health. In this episode, you'll learn what you can do to alleviate these symptoms by making small adjustments to your life where you'll see big results. Our guest today, Tina Anderson, has created a one of a kind solution that I personally take and believe in and and I've seen the changes in myself and can't wait for you to get your cup filled with all the gut knowledge. Please rate and review Sex with Emily wherever you listen to the show. It totally helps us get the show out to more people. So just do it right now. Our new articles, six ways to use cannabis for sex, a guide and six embarrassing sex questions you're afraid to ask are up on Sex with Emily dot com. So don't miss those. All right, everyone, enjoy this episode.

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So I've been dabbling in this area after I learned that our hormones and gut biome each affect each other in a bi directional system. So basically they're constantly talking and affecting each other. And then I've heard from so many of you have been having gut issues and turns out 89% of Americans suffer from some gut issue, whether it's bloating, indigestion or heartburn reflux. Oh, and get this. Studies show that men who suffer from erectile dysfunction have less microbial diversity than men without it. Don't worry if you don't know about microbial diversity, you soon. Well and some researchers are even looking into probiotics as a way of treating erectile challenges. How about that? I mean, maybe you don't need that Viagra after all. And you will also learn how a leaky gut can wreak havoc on your sex hormones. And turns out most of us have a leaky gut leading to a lower libido and might impact your ability to become erect and lubricated. So yeah, it's safe to say your gut health is directly linked to your sexual health and well being. One last little nugget. Our ability to create a romantic spark, attract a partner, develop as a sexual being or having just passionate, mind blowing sex is also linked to our gut. There's so much in this world to break down and it can be so overwhelming. So I found the perfect person and I'm thrilled to have Tina Anderson on the show to help us sort through all of this. She is the co founder and CEO of Just Thrive. It's a groundbreaking family business that was born to help people take back control of their health. She is just a badass woman who's committed to restoring people's wellness. I am so glad you're here Tina, because like I said, for a few years now we're hearing all about improving our gut health. Most important thing we can do for our overall health and well being. That's where I first started hearing about it. I started hearing like my gut. Now I got to focus on my gut. Like what does that even mean? But now I see the real links to sexual health, which is why I think this conversation is so important. Tina, real quick, I think we just have to Start with what is gut health?

Yeah. Well, first of all, I'm so excited to be here with you, Emily. This is such an honor, and I think we're gonna have a lot of fun today. So gut health is basically the totality of microorganisms that are living in and on us. So we've got bacteria, viruses, fungi living on in us. Most of them are living in our gut microbiome. So in our intestinal tract, our digestive tract, and these little microorganisms we have now know are literally dictating all of our overall health. This is all coming out. It came out about 12 years ago with a human microbiome project that was launched by the National Institutes of Health. Told us more about the gut than we ever knew before. And what we're finding is that the gut is really, like, impacting every aspect of our health. I mean, we always think of, like, gas bloating, diarrhea, constipation, acid reflux. Yes. Those are all signs that we have some gut imbalance going on. What the research is telling us and what we're now starting to talk about is that our brain health, like mental health, is associated. Our gut health, skin health, like acne, eczema, diabetes, Alzheimer's. I mean, rheumatoid arthritis and acne are, like, stemming from the same place. Allergies, all of these different health conditions are actually stemming from an imbalance in our gut.

It's amazing we didn't know this. And you remind me of when I first heard the gut is your second brain. I think that's when I first heard that a few years ago. I was like, what?

Yeah.

It's so connected. I mean, it's crazy that we haven't known this. And you said that we have millions of bacteria living in our gut. Are they all bad? Some are good, Right? They're the good ones. Right. So how do we know what's bad? What's good?

Yeah, no, we have trillions of bacteria that are actually really beneficial. In fact, less than 1% of bacteria is actually harmful. We are so, like, into this antibacterial world, like with antibacterial hand soaps, antibacterial hand sanitizers, household cleaning products that have bleach, all of these things that we're trying to kill off bacteria, but really, bacteria is so beneficial. I mean, it's critical. Babies are being born in this sterile environment, and that's not a good thing. I mean, we don't want them to have, like, disease or, you know, like any other pathogenic Bacteria, but less than 1% of bacteria is actually harmful. And that's also really hard for people to wrap their head around. We're just like trained to like get rid of bacteria.

Yeah, right. So we've kind of almost. We've overdone it. Right. Cause now they're saying that a way we're too healthy. And that's why kids are getting a lot sicker. And there's so many other problems with hormones and other things in kids.

Absolutely.

Because of this, we sort of overcorrected.

We have, we've overcorrected. And we're living in this world that is so offensive to our gut health. So if we lived in a tribe of, in Papua New guinea or like, you know, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere where we're eating off the land, our ancestors were getting these really important bacteria. We were taking care of our gut. There weren't all these offenders. But if anyone living in the Western world is faced with these offenders on a regular basis, so antibiotics being one of them, antibiotics not just that we take, but antibiotics that are found in our food supply. So we know antibiotics that we take. People are now starting to know we shouldn't be taking antibiotics all the time because we know they're so disruptive to our gut. I mean, they are like this nuclear bomb going off in your gut. And we know that, like, when you're killing off your bad bacteria, you're also killing off the good bacteria, the beneficial bacteria. And studies have shown that just a single course of clindamycin will actually wreak havoc on your gut for up to a two year period. So, I mean, it's taking a two year period to like actually rebuild our gut flora. So. But antibiotics, like I said, are found in our food supply and animal products, pesticides that we're faced with. You know, our produce is sprayed with glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Roundup, being sprayed all over our produce. And we're consuming that on a regular basis and that's destroying our gut bacteria. Like I said, all the household cleaning products that we're using. Stress is a huge offender to our gut health. Processed foods, I mean, it's just, it's. This world we're living in is just really disruptive to our gut health. And that's why we're seeing people with so many chronic illnesses. They estimate that 60% of the population has one chronic condition and 40% of the population has four, has two chronic conditions. So we are dealing in this world with this chronic conditions all These chronic conditions because we have these imbalance, these imbalances in our gut.

Oh, my God. Well, okay, so, but here's the thing about antibiotics, because I loathe when I have to take a ban to antibiotic, but sometimes I need to take it. So what do we do if you actually have to take an antibiotic?

Yes.

So we can't say never take them, right? Or can you?

Of course not. No, no, no. And I mean, antibiotics save lives. And I don't discount that. But even the CDC estimates that 50% of antibiotics prescribed are actually not necessary. And that's partly due because physicians will just, like, prescribe them, but it's also due because patients will come in and like, I'm going on a vacation and I have sniffles. And now they want to get an antibiotic just in case. And really what people are just starting to understand or not really understanding right now is that when you take an antibiotic, it's killing off your bad bacteria, but it's also killing off your good bacteria. And now remember, 80 to 90% of our immune system is found in our gut. So now the very tool in our body, body that we need to fight off this virus that we have is actually being compromised by the antibiotic. So I would never, ever recommend being on antibiotic if you have a viral infection. I'm a huge fan of, like, letting my fever run a little bit high. Like, I don't quickly try to get a fever down. Or with my kids, I would never do that. I'd let them have their fever run a little bit because that's your body's way to fight off an infection. But of course, there are times to take an antibiotic.

I want to get into shame and gut issues. So I call these the pleasure thieves that kill us from having great sex. It is stress, trauma, and shame. And those are the three killers of our sex drive. And I would say probably of our overall health and wellness. If we are having a lot of stress and anxiety, we know that's going to impact our sexual health and our overall health. Trauma, you know, any kind of trauma, big T trauma, little T trauma, and shame. And so when I was thinking about gut health, it's the kind of thing where I dated a guy who had Crohn's for many years. He actually, though, was like a stand up comedian, and he was pretty comfortable. He made it all about his Crohn's. So I learned a lot, though, about it then. But then I feel like when I've been talking about, like, my experience Right now with sort of studying the gut, everyone's coming out of the woodwork. They've got something going on. But then they also. We get a ton of emails from listeners who are like, I'm bloated or I'm worried about it, or, how do I have sex? What do I do? And I think a lot of people with these gut issues are put on heavy medications. Right? So. So, I mean, they're still.

Which are actually detrimental to your sexual health. That's what's so bad. Just telling them that so many. Yeah, so many of these medications are actually wreaking havoc on your gut health and therefore impacting your sexual health. And it's. It's crazy that the doctors are doing this.

So what should people be doing then? Is it. Because I remember my boyfriend, he, like, changed his diet and he was really struggling for, like, 10, 12 years with it. And I think a lot of it goes back to, like, childhood stuff too. Right? It's all emotional. I think it's emotional and it's physical, biological, a lot of things. But, like, then, yeah, I know you're the shame. And then there's secrecy. But what do we. Like, what do you think people should do? Or, like, yeah, I have ibs. I have Crohn's. I'm on a medication. Like, would you ever kind of gently guide them into another direction or to kind of ask some more questions?

Yeah, well, I think that's kind of what we're doing right now, right? I'm like, I don't. There is a time and place for medication. I mean, I feel like medic pharmaceuticals are great for, like, emergency type situations or acute situations. But I think on a regular basis, I would always caution people to avoid being on something for long term and try to get to the root cause. That's what I. I think if we could just train ourselves to be like, okay, maybe I need to be on a medication for a while. But why do I have. Why do I have Crohn's? Why do I have whatever it might be, like, diabetes? Why do I have allergies? And kind of trying to get to the root cause of it? And mostly it will be stemming in your gut. And I think when you were talking about shame, I mean, that's people who, you know, they are not in the mood because, like, they feel bloated. They feel like, you know, a lot of people are suffering from blo right now. I mean, there's. It's. I feel like it's an epidemic. I feel like every woman I Talk to. Because their guts are inflamed and their guts are so imbalanced. And there's all this. I mean, like I said, this world we're living in, everything we're doing is disruptive.

Give me some more things that are disrupting us. Like even certain vegetable. Right. Certain vegetables that you think are healthy too. Right. Like too many.

Well, see, like people always say, like, oh, you know, I can't eat broccoli. Well, I would argue that we should eat like if you can't eat broccoli, that means there's something going on with your gut. So other things, like I said, household cleaning products or personal care products, the toxins that we're breathing, the air that we're breathing is so detrimental to our gut. Think about it. When I was a kid, which was many, many, many years ago, I knew one classmate that had a peanut allergy. One from. I went to a huge high school from kindergarten all the way through the end of high school. One classmate. Now we know you can't go to school without a peanut free table. You can't hard to go to a restaurant without them asking if you have any food allergies. So I mean, we are living in this. And that's an example of having gut imbalance going on or leakiness of the gut.

Wasn't going on.

It was not going on.

To go back to the shame thing real quick, I just want to say people are suffering from it. I just want to remind you that that shame does really permeate so many parts of our sex life. And just to know that, that we clearly we all have something with our gut. And I can even tell you from my experience and then from talking to so many listeners that I thought it was just so. I loved how he was so open about it and he was like, this is what my problem is and this is what it is. And I just. To me that was so such a turn on that he knew how to handle it and he was honest with me. He wasn't trying to hide it. It didn't impact our sex life. So for anyone else out there, any listeners who are like, but I've got this problem and it's keeping me from my sex life. Like, just like everything else. I think it's so important to be in a relationship with somebody. If you're in a relationship where you can say, hey, I just want to let you know that I've got some gut things. Sometimes I might make some noises. Sometimes things might happen. But you know, that's just how it Is I wanted to tell you ahead of time and I'm telling you that there's something so freaking hot about just calling it and being real. Because I want to remind everyone that sex is messy. We make noises, things come out that we don't want to come out and like that's part of it. And if you're with a trusted loving partner, you won't even blink your eye when these things happen. So I just have to remind it because I, I know many people are just sort of stuck in this place of suffering. They're like, well, once I heal my gut or once I do this thing, then I'll feel better sexually. And I'm just saying, then you just gotta find partners who are open to hear your real story and be, you know, authentic and share it. Like the things that we think, you know, we cannot say. I think once we find someone that we can say it to will set us free. Yeah. And, and there is all this shame around bodily noises too. So this is on Tick tock and someone says to me, like, oh, you can't go to the bathroom in front of your partner, that's the end of your relationship. Or you can't talk about it. Or girls don't fart. There's a whole thing on TikTok right now where girls are leaving the building and like farting and they're like boyfriends catch them. It's like the women who wake up in the middle, like put makeup on, like.

Yeah, exactly.

20, 24 people. Like that's got to be so friggin stressful that they're living in this. Like I have to be this perfect woman who doesn't make noises and do anything. So I just want to say, embrace who you are.

Yeah. I could not agree with you more of it.

So taking a probiotic can help with some of that bloating and gas and embarrassment and shame.

Absolutely. I mean that's probably one of the biggest testimonials we get here.

I heard I'm regular, I'm still with, you know, but, but, oh yeah.

I mean we, the regular thing is because I did not have gut issues when I or I didn't know I had gut issues when I started the.

Probiotic and then revealed I think, yes, me, but.

And I, I, that's what I noticed. I'm like, oh my God, I'm so regular. Like my mom and I always talk about that. Like, oh my God, I feel so, like cleaned out. You feel so good. And like think about how much energy you have when you get Rid of the toxins?

Yeah. You want to get rid of it, but then it's hanging out all day or for two days, and now it's like, gone. You're like, on to the next.

Yeah. People are like, I don't have any problems. I go to the bathroom every other day, and it's like, oh, God. That's not. That's a problem.

What about the gut defect on mental health? These stats are crazy. Like 80%, 90% of our serotonin is in our gut.

Yes. So 90% of our serotonin is actually produced in our gut. All these. All these important neurotransmitters like gaba, which is our calming hormone, is produced in our gut. Dopamine is produced in our gut. You know, you can't be talking about sexual health if you're not talking about serotonin production. I mean, because if you have too low of serotonin production, you're tired, you get headaches, you know, you've got all kinds of issues. When you're depressed, you're sad. But if you have too much serotonin, that also inhibits arousal and all those types of issues. And then you see that with people who are on antianxiety meds like SSRIs, they have trouble with, you know, having. They have trouble with arousal because they have too much serotonin going on. So what the gut does, it's actually, when you have a healthy gut microbiome, it actually is able to produce the serotonin, which is 90% of it's produced in the right amounts, in a balanced amount. So it's really hard for people to wrap their head around that, that these neurotransmitters, one being serotonin, that 90% of it is produced in our gut, which is our happy hormone. It's our feel good hormone.

Thirty years ago now, when I was having, like, PMS and my doctor was like, you should take an antidepressant. You should take an ssri, like Prozac. We've learned so much more about mental health since then, but we never even talked about the fact, well, what are you eating? What are you putting in your body? Right. They do help with serotonin when you take an antidepressant, but then is it also wreaking havoc on your gut? So is it the same?

Yes.

Kind of thing?

That's what they're. They're showing. The studies are showing that people have a lot of issues with, you know, being in the mood when they're on an ssri and they have issues with erectile dysfunction and they have all those kinds of issues when they are on an SSRI.

So have you found that people are on SSRIs, have been able to effectively get off of them using like supplement, using diet, nutrition, exercise? I mean, because if it's not working on your gut, it's working on your other parts of your brain. I'm just, I mean, I know you're not a doctor in this area, but I'm always. So I'm always concerned about it because SSRIs wreak so much havoc on people. Especially people who are so, you know, depressed. They don't want sex, but then they take an ssri. They want to have sex now, but then they can't have an orgasm, you know.

Right, right. What I'm seeing, I think psychiatrists have had their hands tied for many years because they have these SSRIs and they're not working. They're not people. I mean, you know, people who have been on SSRIs and they just, they're not feeling better. I mean, there is a small population that does see some impacts positively with an ssri. But I would argue that, you know, there are so many other things to be doing to help with mood. And number one most important thing is to be taking care of our gut. Because there is something called the gut brain access and it's the communication between the gut and the brain. And like I mentioned, all these neurotransmitters are being produced in our gut, like gaba, serotonin, dopamine. And if there, if your gut is not healthy, these signals are being sent up to your brain and then your brain sends signals down to your gut. And if you think that this makes no sense, just kind of think about it for a second. Like when you get butterflies in your stomach, you know, it's because you're excited about something. There's this two way communication. So I would always recommend that when somebody is suffering from any type of mental, you know, mood issue or mental health issue, that they focus on their gut. Whether it's, you know, eating the right foods, eliminating processed foods, staying away from sugar and alcohol, doing all. I mean, I've got lots of things that we could do for gut health.

Yeah, what are the things? I mean, I think, I mean, the funny thing is you'll be like, I've heard that you can tell me to meditate, eat healthy. Yeah. Right. I mean. Yes.

Yeah.

So is that what you would say? There's some main areas, take care of our gut. What would you say, yeah, well, I.

Would definitely say to try to avoid antibiotics as much as possible. And if you do, then I have, if you have to be on one, we could talk about that later. Really try to eat organic. And I know that's hard and even if you do slow, just try to minimize that amount of exposure.

And just why I'm convinced. But I always, People like, it's so expensive. Does it make a difference?

And it does, it is so expensive.

It does make a difference.

Yeah. But I sympathize with people because it is expensive, expensive. And I think you could go to like the frozen section and maybe just start like replacing like some organic berries and from the frozen section and then come home and then do, you know, have that and then. But it's not, it's not the end of the world if you have some, if you're exposed to it, but just try to start eliminating it. But those glyphosates that are found in Roundup are so bad.

So with antibiotics are not organic food, you mean.

Right, right. So with antibiotics they kill the bad bacteria and the good bacteria like we talked about. So it's good that they kill the bad bacteria. Here's the problem with glyphosate, which is the pesticides that are found in like our produce is they only target the beneficial bacteria in our gut. So it's actually worse than an antibiotic. So. And yet we're, it's sprayed all of our food supply. And so I would just, I'm not saying that we, you know, we can't all afford it. And I understand that, but I think if we just try to minimize it and, and just try to eat at home, you know, like try to eat whole foods and you know, just eat on the perimeter of the grocery store, get your, you know, eat your meats and your vegetables and not have a lot of processed foods. Those small baby steps and make a.

Huge difference, Huge, huge difference. Just just to be aware of it. And there are certain things, if you want to look it up, there's some foods that are better than others bio organic. Like if you can peel the skin, it's a little less bad. I don't know if that's true.

Yeah, absolutely. Like bananas are, yeah. But like there's also things like you mentioned meditation. I mean people think like that's so woo woo, like why would I meditate to help my gut? But we now know that if you're stressed out, that's impacting your gut. And I mean, think about when you're nervous about Something. What do you have to do? You have to go to the bathroom? Like people have ibs, have like they have twofold the amount of anxiety that people who don't have ibs. And so we really, we know that there is a gut brained connection. So maybe meditation isn't your thing, but you know, maybe you like to walk in nature or you know, you like breath work. Exactly. Whatever it might be, but really trying to calm yourself down even if it's making huge lifestyle changes. I mean, because. Because we have to start taking care of our mental health and our mood in order to, you know, bring our health to our gut.

Yeah, I'm like, if not now, when it's kind of like we have so much information now showing that everything that we're doing is just working against us being healthy. So if you can find your form of mindfulness, like for me I meditate for years, but I like breath work. I like turning on a nap for three minutes. I just breathe like, you know, or moving. Just making sure you move your body. Now I want to talk real quick about leaky gut because that's one thing that I just. My image of a leaky gut is like, there's shit coming out of it. Maybe it's shit or just stuff coming out of it all the time and it's leaky. Like I think that's a confusing term. But I know that leaky gut is important to understand about like inflammation and all that.

It's really important to understand how we know.

I feel like everyone's got a leaky gut now.

Yes. So we have the.

No, they do leaky guts everywhere.

They estimate that 80% of the population has a leaky gut and don't know it. They have no symptoms. But it's like this drippy faucet when you have a leaky gut because you have no allergies, let's say, and then all of a sudden you get an allergy. You're like, I don't know where this came from. Well, it's been happening for years. So what a leaky gut is, it's actually just like what it sounds like. You have this intestinal cell wall and that's a, it's a barrier. It's your like intestinal barrier that protects your, like your bloodstream from all these toxins seeping into your bloodstream. We don't want food particles to be seeping into our bloodstream. We don't want lps. LPS stands for lipopolysaccharide. These are toxins that are Norma in our gut that are not really problematic, but when they seep into our bloodstream, they create inflammation and they wreak havoc on our overall health. And so that inflammatory response that our body like, so when you have like, let's say we have kale, we're eating kale, or eating spinach, all these really healthy. We're eating organic spinach and organic blueberries. We've done all the right things. But if your gut is leaky, food particles can actually seep into your bloodstream. And that, I mean, as healthy as like organic spinach is, it's not healthy when it's in your bloodstream. So when you have a leaky gut, LPS toxins could seep into your bloodstream and your body starts having this immune response. And now this is where we have chronic low grade inflammation. And we know that chronic low grade inflammation is the cause and the root cause of every disease out there. I mean from heart disease to cancer to diabetes to Alzheimer's, dementia, I mean, you name it. 90% of non communicable diseases are actually associated with that leakiness of the gut.

Okay, so is there an easy way to tell if you have a leaky gut?

80% of the population has a leaky gut and we just should assume that we do. But I mean, if you have allergies, if you have any autoimmune issues, if you have, you know, diarrhea, constipation, all of those things, you know, you Crohn's, stuff like that. Oh, yes, absolutely.

That's what it is.

But I mean, even if you don't. So we did a double blind human clinical trial on leaky gut. This is the first of its kind double blind human clinical trial. In that study they took the University of North Texas took 100 college students, 55% of them had a leaky gut and didn't know it. These are healthy college students. They had no diseases, they weren't on any medication, nothing was wrong with them. And 55% of these 20 year olds had a leaky gut and didn't know it. So that's why they're estimating that 80 to 90% of the adult population has a leaky gut and doesn't know it.

Is how do you test for it?

You know what, there are no commercial tests really available. They're only done in a research setting. The way University of North Texas tested for it is they measured the LPS toxins, how many went into the bloodstream after they had a meal. So when you eat, you're and you have leakiness your gut. You could measure the LPS toxins seeping into your bloodstream.

How does gut inflammation or imbalance contribute to libido issues?

Yes, well, inflammation is one.

So, yeah.

Okay, inflammation is a huge one.

Can you just kind of explain it why that's the problem and how we're also freaking inflamed all of a sudden?

Right, right. Well, because we have a leaky gut. That's why we're inflamed. Inflammation is a protective mechanism of our body. Inflammation is a good thing when we need it. When we sprain an ankle or whatever, we have an injury, it's a protective mechanism. But when you have chronic inflammation. So our body is like, they're having this inflammatory response when we have leaky gut, when that food particle goes into your bloodstream, our body has an inflammatory response to protect us. But when you have that chronic inflammation, this is where disease begins.

Is that chronic inflammation? But. Okay, so is there a way to tell if we're inflamed?

You know, I. I think there are. People could definitely, you know, they feel it in their body. You know, they get puffy and different things like that. But I mean, I think some people. People have it intuitively to know that they're inflamed. And I think you could tell from blood work. I mean, there's certain blood work, like C. Reactive protein or homocysteine will give you measures of your inflammation by doing certain blood work. Could tell you too.

Okay. So really, it's the underlying cause of so many things. So it is like libido. You might not feel as in the mood, as aroused as turn on because of the food you're eating. A leaky gut, like, you just don't have the same hormones, aren't firing. You're just not able to get your brain on board or your body on board with sex because of this inflammation that's probably coming from the environment and the food you eat.

Yes.

And maybe antibiotics.

Yes, yes. And that is definitely one cause of libido issues. The other is the lack of serotonin. And, you know, like, we know that serotonin directly impacts your libido. I mean, and it just. It makes so much sense because, I mean, if we're stressed out or we're depressed, you know, you don't. You're not in the mood. I mean, so it's like all of these factors, but our serotonin is directly impacting our libido. And remember, our serotonin is being produced in our gut. It is True.

This is like imperative. We have to all get on top of. This is why like the alarm bells are going off. But what I love is that you're so passionate and you're, you love helping people and you've done the science, you've done the research and your company that you developed, just Thrive was really all based on this. Your mission is to share science embedded information that helps other people move forward and to basically empower everyone all over the world to take care of their health, live their best lives. So what first inspired you to do this? Did you always have this passion or was there like something that happened? Usually like something was our catalyst in your life that you were like, holy shit, we need to get this out there.

Yes, yes. We were in the pharmaceutical industry so my husband and I were in the pharmaceutical industry and I thought it was great. You know, I thought I'm, we're delivering life saving medications to people and this is awesome. And it was wonderful. And then after being in the industry for a while, we started to see a lot of the abuses, you know, the over prescribing of medications. The really the thing that bothered me the most was just that, you know, doctors and pharma, they are only looking at treating symptoms. There's never a discussion about like prevention of health or maintaining your health. My husband was seeing a naturopathic physician and they both have been talking about wanting to get into more the natural health space. And one day he called him up, Billy up and said, oh my God, you and Tina need to come to my office right now. Because I just got the opportunity to license these incredible strains out of London University. And so that was where just Thrive was born. It was literally these strains, yes, these really unique strains of probiotics. So for many years there have been these conventional probiotics on the market that are made up of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. We were able to license these really unique strains through London University from Dr. Simon Cutting, like world renowned probiotic expert and researcher. And they are called spore based probiotics and they're a very different type of probiotic strain. We were disruptors when we came to the market. It was a really uphill battle, but I would never look back. It was the most gratifying career journey I've ever been on. I mean, and just empowering people, that is one of the core values of our company is empowering people. I mean I just, they need to be the CEOs of their own health.

After a quick break, we'll be back with more with Tina from Just Throw.

Well, I think it's so interesting you said that your husband went to a functional medicine doctor, which I think functional medicine is certainly an area of interest for many people. It's not always accessible, unfortunately. But what I love about it and what I think that you're doing is that you're focusing way more on the prevention than the treatment. So our medical system is all about, like, curing a disease or treating something that's already happened, but you're about, like, creating the lifestyle, preventing it so we don't get sick so we can have longevity in our life, right? Yes.

It's hard because people don't have access to naturopathic physicians and functional medicine doctors. You pay cash. I mean, I pay cash for my doctor's appointment every time I go. And, you know, not everybody could do that. And I. That's why I think I'm so passionate about, like, when we do blogs on our website, where do we do so much research? We hire some of the best researchers out there to, like, get the information so that people could empower themselves. And it's just really important. And whatever, you know, listening to podcasts like yours and just understanding how health impacts so much of our life and. And you need to take control of it.

Yeah, we do. I always, I love that it's like, become the CEO of your own. Of your own medical health. I always say, become like the CEO of your own sex life. Like, you guys got to figure it out because it's so different. It's so bio individual. Like, we're just giving in on this show. I try to give people, like, I'm not prescriptive. I'm not telling you guys to go out and do any one thing. I'm just trying to give you the information so you can make better choices for your overall health and wellness. I'm always talking about on the show, like, one of my pillars of sexual health and sex IQ that I wrote about was the five pillars of sexual health of sex iq. And the first one is embodiment. How in your body are you when you want to be sexual? Are you thinking about what you're feeling? Are you feeling your partner's hands on your body? Or are you in your head thinking about the laundry? Are the kids listening? Am I fantasizing about my ex? All those are okay, and they're natural. Embodiment is a practice. I work on it. I see a somatic therapist. I meditate every day. I try. That's to be in touch with my body. So when we first met, you sent me some of the probiotics because I've just been, like, so curious about it when I heard, like, it can help with erectile dysfunction and it can help you with your mood, all the things. So I started taking them a month ago. And at first I was like, oh, I don't. I don't know. I can't tell. It's fine. And then I realized about not that soon and maybe less than a week, that I was a lot more regular. And I didn't realize this is me not being embodied, that I wasn't that regular. I didn't realize that it was more of a struggle. But now, like, I wake up, I go. I go to bed, I go, like, I feel so. It's so freeing.

Yes.

It's so easy.

Yes.

And I don't even have to think about it. And so that's been my experience with probiotics. But I'm wondering, in your experience, like, I know that there's so many things for probiotics, so I wonder if you could tell us, like, why. Why is everyone recommending them? Tell me about just thrive and stuff in your probiotics, which I know are special because of the spores.

Probiotics are the friendly bacteria that. And we want them to, in order to be defined as a probiotic, it's a live microorganism that confers a benefit onto the host, which is the body. And we need them to be alive when they're in the intestines. And so the biggest thing is that we need a probiotic that arrives alive in the intestine. So we work with a type of probiotics that's called spores, like you mentioned. And the biggest difference is they have this endospore shell around themselves. And that shell allows them to survive the stomach acid and get into the intestines alive. And so the biggest problem with the overwhelming majority of probiotics on the market is that they die in the stomach acid. So the stomach acid is meant to be the gastric bar. It's very acidic. If our fingers touch the acid in our stomach, it would burn our fingers. So it's. And it's there to protect us. It gets all the things from our food that we don't want. But for probiotics, we do want our probiotics to survive, because in order to just be defined as a probiotic, it needs to arrive alive in the intestines. And so that's the difference between the spores and the conventional probiotics that you.

Find they don't arrive alive. Like, I bought the ones that you had to put in the refrigerator, and I was like, oh, but I'll never remember to take them because they're in the refrigerator.

Yeah, that's actually one of the biggest, biggest myths I always talk about is that if a.

They don't have to be in the refrigerator.

No. How do they tell you that to be a live microorganism? They thought, oh, well, they need to be alive in the refrigerator. But. And so they have. They're alive. Let's say they were alive. Let's just make it. Let's pretend like they made it from the manufacturing facility on the truck to the grocery store and they were live microorganism. When you took them home and you put them in your mouth, they. Your body temperature is 98.6. Right. Well, they can't even withstand the room temperature of the store shelf, which is, you know, much cooler than your body temperature of 98.6. So the majority of those probiotics would die just from the temperature of your body, but much less when they start making their way to the intestines, they would hit the stomach, and all that acidic environment in the stomach would kill off the probiotic. And then you're basically getting dead bacteria. Now, there's an argument to be made that even dead bacteria may give you some symptomatic relief, but it's not making a true change in the gut. It's not going in there and fixing what's going on in the gut. And so. And the spores, those are the strains that we work with. And these are the same type of strains our ancestors got from the environment. Like, they would eat roots and tubers off the land. They would get. The bacteria was teeming with this good bacteria. They have this endospore shell around itself. And this is not because we've engineered them. This is like natural. A natural way to get these spores. And you swallow them. They are. They have that shell around themselves while they get through that gastric system. And when they hit your intestines, they recognize your intestines as its home. And then they take the shell off, and that's when they go into their live vegetative cell state. And then they stay there for about 21 to 28 days where they're working from the small intestine all the way down to the distal colon. So it's. It's really. It's like. I get so excited about it because it's like you. This is why they work.

Picture it now like going into my. Now like I'm just taking it, but now I can picture it going down there, opening up, fertilizing my, my bacteria. Like being in my gut like that sounds like. Yes, I can actually feel it now. I'm having a very embodied experience about taking the probiotic right now.

Yeah. And like you said that about fertilizer. It's so funny because, like, I love to use that analogy. Like, when you envision a garden that's been stepped down and trampled on and there's weeds growing all over that garden, you kind of compare that to your gut, your intestines and you. These probiotic strains actually go into that garden. They get there 100% alive, they attach to the dirt or the intestinal cell wall, and then they have the ability to get rid of the weeds in the garden or the bad bacteria in your gut. And then they have the ability to take those plants that have been stepped down and trampled on and have them come back to life. So they are, they're going in and making, they're like the gardener of the gut. They go in there and they're literally like taking, getting rid of the pathogenic bacteria, helping get rid of the pathogenic bacteria. Help bring our good bacteria back to life.

Okay, can everyone take probiotics? Are they suitable for everybody at any, like, do you think?

Yeah. So with the spore based probiotic, I can't imagine anybody that would not be able to take it. I think it's, I mean, it's hard to find anybody that would not benefit from it because like I said, we're being assaulted. Our gut is being assaulted on a daily basis, and yet it's dictating virtually all of our health. I mean, it is, you know, if you go to Google and you say like gut health and brain health, gut health and skin health, gun health and rheumatoid arthritis, gut health and sexual health. I mean, there is going to be a study on it because it is. Your gut is responsible with everything that you're talking about when you talk about your health. So. And, well, and the reason why it is new information. And this is, it's not a fad, though. I mean, this is like, I mean, we are at the, like, it's not like kale.

It's not like the kale of medical diagnosis.

No, no, not at all. And we're like at the tip of the iceberg. I mean, there is more and more research. I think there's going to be a time where people are on several different Probiotics, I mean, because. Because we know how instrumental they are in healing. I mean, we have our main probiotic, our spore based probiotic that is foundational and we could go into all why that's so foundational. But we work with another probiotic strain called bifidal longum 1714 that's actually shown to bring down cortisol levels. And that's our just calm product because we know that our cortisol, we're all like have way too much cortisol right now because we're all stressed out and we're always in that fight or flight response. So, so there I could see a day where we're taking five, 10 different types of probiotic strains because we know how it's impacting our health, our guts are impacting our health.

I tried that one as well, because here's why I was also very interested in getting to know you, because this is a part of a journey that I have a graveyard of supplements. I might show them to you in my kitchen. And I've seen different doctors that were like, you have to take magnesium and then you have to take fish oil and then you have to take B or D or. But it was always a probiotic. Those were the consistent ones. And then I got overwhelming taking them every day. I don't want to take them every day. But then it just sounds like the main thing that everyone agreed on was that probiotic, which again, up until recently I would only take them if I took antibiotics. So this is just like kind of blowing my mind that it is so linked to so much of our overall and our sexual health.

Yeah. And when you're talking about these different vitamins that we're taking. So when our gut is inflamed, it's not absorbing nutrients. So here where all these people are taking like everyone takes a multivitamin without even thinking about it or they take vitamin D. Everyone knows we need to be taking vitamin D and we need to be taking vitamin C. Especially after the pandemic, everybody's taking all these vitamins, which I'm so happy about. But there's no point in taking them if our gut is not absorbing them and if our gut is inflamed. So that's why you. It's foundational to be taking care of your gut and being on a high quality probiotic because you're not absorbing the nutrients if your gut is inflamed or imbalanced at all. And that's what I think. I want to just, you know, stress to people. Is that, you know, you take all these supplements and they're great and eat healthy, but we need to make sure that we first and foremost take care of our gut.

So if my gut is inflamed, I'm taking all these antibiotics and. But my gut's inflamed. They won't be able to absorb the nutrients. So it's just a waste, right?

A waste of time if our gut is inflamed.

Right. Which. But you told me most people's guts are inflamed, and we have no way of knowing if it's inflamed. Right.

And most of us have leaky gut. Right. But it's our gut's job to assimilate these nutrients, and that's really important for people to understand.

Ah, God, it's a lot.

But no, no, there's good. It's good news. No, you know what?

The good news, it is good news. It is easier now.

We could heal our guts. I mean, we can heal our gut. That's the beautiful part.

What have you heard from people, like, about their sexual health? Because we know that it's related to libido, erectile dysfunction. I've heard from several urologists now that, like, tell their patients take probiotics, as I mentioned earlier. What have you seen from that? What have you heard from people?

I have actually a girlfriend who said, oh, my God, your product saved my marriage because she had no energy. I mean, it's like we. She literally was, like, always tired, didn't have the energy. And so it just. When you start going to the bathroom regularly, when you get rid of those toxins on a regular basis, I mean, it's your gut dictating all of that. And your hormones are metabolized in your gut. So we need to know that when we have people who have estrogen dominance, for example, you know, we need.

We.

It's our gut that's detoxing over production of certain hormones. I don't even know where to start, because it's like mood, and what kind of mood you're in is affecting, you know, your. Your gut is affecting that.

So the hormone by. By taking that. But also, yeah, our hormones are regulated. This will also help with our hormone production of our hormones. Right. That's why we take the probiotic first.

People would want to maybe avoid HRT until the time that they maybe need it, you know, But I would say that you could. Could prolong that time in your life by reg. Your gut is regulating your hormones. So that's why we need to be taking care of our gut.

Well, how do we know if it's a hormone issue or a gut issue?

In what respect?

Well, like let's say my libido or I have night sweats or I have erectile dysfunction or if I'm going through perimenopause. Because it sounds like there's not conclusive tests right now and you can't really tell through blood work. And then you heard said that every. A lot of people have leaky gut. So, like, how do we know what to do? Because I'm always like, I'm a huge fan of HRT if you need it, hormone replacement therapy, especially if you're a perimenopause menopause as you get older. But then we know that now that some kids are being born with like really low testosterone too. Men, young boys. So I just feel like, how do we piece this all apart? Like, how do we know which is which?

Any hormone expert that you talk to will tell you, you start with your gut. I mean, every single one that I follow and that I, you know, at different doctors that I spoken to are always like, you need to focus, focus on your gut health. I mean, even you could be on HRT and it may help, you know, certain, like things like vaginal dryness or like hot flashes, but you need to be taking care of your gut simultaneously because it's still where your hormones are being regulated. So it's probably a combination of things. You could be on spores all you want, but I mean, once you hit menopause, you're not going to be able to produce estrogen and progesterone.

Which food should we eat for healthier gut? Which ones should we avoid?

Just to start there, that's an awesome question because I mean, there's so much we could do that's free with our gut. And one of the big things is eating a diverse group of foods. So we live in this world where it's like, I'm keto, I'm paleo, I'm vegan. You know, they have all. Everyone's got these restrictive eating diets right now. And you go to the grocery store, find a different vegetable you haven't eaten before and like, try that and really mix up a lot of your vegetables or even meat products and just, just try to eat a diverse group of foods. And that is gonna contribute to diversity. We know that when we have a diverse microbiome, we have health, and when we have health, we have better sexual health. And so it's really important that we're Eating a diverse group of foods and, you know, staying away from processed foods, staying away from, you know, sugar, alcohol, you know, all those things. I mean, gluten is, unfortunately a huge offender to leaky gut. You know, people will say, like, I don't have any gluten tolerances, which. Which I'm one of those people. I don't have any gluten intolerances. But we actually all have a gluten intolerance because, yeah, it attacks our gut lining. So, you know, we want to avoid certain foods, foods that are loaded with antibiotics. We want to avoid processed foods that have all those chemicals in there. But there are a lot of those things will help also.

Okay, and what can we eat? What are the things? Like, are you also eating? What about eating, like, sauerkraut and, like, fermented foods?

So I'm.

A soup helps, too, right?

Yes. Sauerkraut. Fermented foods are really, really nutrient dense. They're really great for your gut. They are not a replacement for a probiotic because just like those probiotics out there that arrive a lot or they arrive dead, like, fermented foods are super beneficial, but the probiotics in them will actually die in the stomach acid. But that doesn't mean that all of the ferment and all of, like, the nutrients that come with fermented foods, they are really important for your gut health. So I would never say, like, oh, don't eat fermented foods. Like, you don't have to eat them. I would. I eat them all the time, and I think they're hugely beneficial. They're just not a replacement for a probiotic.

Okay. Because, like, I used to love kombucha. I drank it, like, every day. But then someone's like, it has a lot of sugar in it.

Yeah.

And then I was like, oh, no.

Well, that is one of the big, like, people will eat yogurt all the time. And they're like, oh, I ate yogurt, so good for my gut. Well, the effects of the sugar are, you know, negating all of the benefits of the yogurt.

So let's say we take a probiotic because I. I'm. I'm committed now. I'm like, this is what. I haven't done this before. This is what I want to do. But does that mean that everything else is. Is fixed or just a great place to start by taking a probiotic?

Well, it's one place to start. It's a very powerful tool in your toolbox. Like we said, you know, eating better and cleaner, you know, just taking baby steps. I don't expect people to like make huge shifts just taking baby steps. Also, like finding some type of mindful practice, doing things that will calm you down, even if it's major lifestyle changes. But you have got to be taking care of your gut. And then, and of course the spore based probiotic, it just works so powerfully and it's been so much fun to see like what people are feeling. And like I said in the pharmaceutical world we came with, it's like side effects are like suicidal thoughts or bloody stools, all these horrible things. And it's like with our product, so many people come to it because they have gas or bloating or constipation or they just want to be healthy. They just want to take it. Like they take a multivitamin and then they all of a sudden say, oh my gosh, I have more energy or I have better weight management. I mean, we see this all the time because our gut bacteria is determining how you metabolize your food. And if you're one of those people that like could look at a cupcake and gain 10 pounds, or one of those people that could eat a cupcake and not gain 10 pounds. So it's like people see better weight management, they see better mood, better sleep. That's a huge response we get from a lot of customers is just getting better sleep. Because when your gut is calm, it's like the magic starts to happen. And that's why I always tell people, people will maybe start it and they'll be like, oh, I'm going to be on it. And it's not like an over the counter that where you're going to feel it right away. Some people do, some people will feel it immediately. But I always say like, stay on it for 90 days. And then you start to see the magic habit. That's when you start to notice the energy. That's when you start to notice all of these other really exciting things happen.

So we hear a lot about UTIs. There's all these. First of all, some women have repeated urinary tract infections or yeast infections. Then as women head into perimenopause, menopause, they even have even more UTIs. And it says like, there's a lot of reasons for it. But I'm wondering what you think about probiotics, our sexual health, yeast infections. Millions of women suffer from these infections. Like what do you think about taking something for that?

Yeah, well, it's our gut microbiome that's dictating our vaginal microbiome. It really is. And so we need to be taking care of our gut to take care of our vaginal microbiome. We also know that yeast and candida is like a natural part of our gut flora. It's when you have that overgrowth of yeast where you start to see the problems. And that's what's exciting about the spores is that they actually, I always say like elbow out the overgrowth of the yeast or the candida that's going on. And the problem is with people are getting these yeast infections or UTIs, what's the first thing that they do, especially with UTIs? They go on an antibiotic.

That's the thing. They go on antibiotic. And I'm like, oh, this is not. Yeah, I don't do that anymore.

No, you don't want to do that. So I think taking care of your gut flora is super important. We actually have a UT product that it's called UT123 that is really, really great for. It's a fast acting. But I really, I cannot stress enough that we need to be taking care of our gut when we're talking about vaginal health, UTIs, when we're talking about yeast infections, BV, all of that stuff.

Okay, we have some questions here that I would love you to help me answer. We got some from Instagram and we've got got some from our listeners. Let's just whip out the Instagram. Does a healthier gut increase your chance of orgasm?

Well, absolutely, because if you think about it, you know what helps you get in your orgasm? It's basically being in the right mood and feeling good. And it's your serotonin.

Yeah.

And so it's our serotonin and that's being produced in our gut. So. Absolutely.

So someone else wants to know how does it effect?

It's the same mechanism of the serotonin production and also the lack of inflammation when you start getting rid of that inflammatory response. When your gut is healthy and you don't have that inflammatory response, that's really going to help your libido as well. And we know that inflammation is affecting testosterone levels. We know. I mean, so it's like we have got to be taking care of our testosterone. And that is so much of that is caused by leakiness of the gut.

Gut. What supplements do you recommend for a healthy gut?

I feel passionately about our just thrive spore based probiotic that is foundational. I mean before you do any other supplements or anything else that we carry, I would focus on the probiotic, the spore based probiotic. Because it is literally going in there and being that gardener of the gut and helping that balance. Your gut is an ecosystem. It's not that we want to get rid of all the bad bacteria. We just want to a healthy ecosystem, a balance. Right. And we want the good bacteria to outweigh the bad bacteria. And that's what's so cool about the spores is their ability to do that. And we talked earlier about antibiotics. This is a really important point. So you are right that most of the time they tell people get off of your probiotic when you're on an antibiotic. It is different with the spores. Here's why. The spores have the ability, you know how they have that spore around themselves that they're able to survive the gastric system. Well, they are also able. That spore shell allows them to survive the presence of an antibiotic. So it is. They will work at the same time as with an antibiotic. So I would highly recommend that if you're taking an antibiotic that you take a spore based probiotic like just thrive because it has the ability to survive the presence of an antibiotic.

Is that really where all you have to, not all you have to do but like change your diet, all that. But by taking one of these, you're on the road to recovery.

You're on a really, really powerful road to recovery. I mean you are like going in there and, and it's not a quick fix. You know, anything that's worthwhile and long term is not a quick fix.

But like I said, no wants a quick fix.

I know, but you, you will see the magic start to happen. I mean when you start. Because it's like all these other things start happening when you start to heal your gut. It's. It's really exciting.

This is why I'm so glad you were like so the right person. Because I was like that's the one area. I just had it. I mean I'm healthy, I do all the things. But I need to understand this because I see, see how imperative it is for overall health but also to help prevent diseases later in life.

Yes.

So it's really important. Okay, so this is a listener question. Hello Dr. Emily. I'm a 50 something woman of vulva owner and I love listening to your show. I'm recently divorced. Your show is a great source of insight. As I'm navigating new relationships for my whole life. Every time I receive oral, I end up with a uti. Different partners I have good hygiene and I follow the best practices like urinating after sex, sex, sex. And still every single time it's a huge bummer to what should be a hot, sexy, pleasurable experience. It's difficult for me to get excited about knowing the aftermath I'll have to deal with. Is there anything I can do so I don't end up with a uti? So there's a lot of different theories about this. Like recurrent UTIs they say maybe caused by the reinfection of the same pathogen. It could be something in your DNA, it could be genetic, it could be a lack of estrogen. If you're in perimenopause or menopause, make the lining of your urinary tract more susceptible to harmful bacteria as there's less good bacteria to fight off an infection. I've like tons of research on this. Like it's really not known why some people get them more than others. Except for the few things that I just mentioned. I think that sucks to hear. I'm sorry that that happened. I'm sorry that that is like your, your life, Amy, because you know, there are those things that say like, like go to the bathroom after sex, make sure you're clean, don't wear tight underwear. But there's just some people I guess who have one of these challenges. But what would you say about this? Is there anything, have you heard about people who have taken some of your probiotics but they continue to get it or what? What have you heard about UTIs?

Yeah, I would always encourage somebody that has recurrent UTIs to take care of their gut. And so of course the best way to do that by taking the spore based probiotic. But then also we do have a urinary tract health product that is, we call it, it's fast acting and it actually attaches to the E. Coli because E. Coli is the main bacteria that causes, is like the root cause of urinary tract issues. And so we have a product that actually attaches to the E. Coli and is more fast acting. So in that case I would say if you're prone to them, just to start taking it on a regular basis. And we've seen a lot of success with that.

Have you? You. So you're saying that she could start taking this on a daily basis and she might see that all these other doctors, theories about genetics and all these genetic subtypes could just be that her gut hasn't been healthy, maybe that's also genetic. But if she takes something every day preventative, she Might not have to.

Yeah. So you remember, like, I was. The gut microbiome is dictating the vaginal microbiome. So we want to be first and foremost taking care of our gut. But then we have this urinary tract tract product that actually will help support our urinary tract for those times. And we know that we could take it for about, like, or the studies on it are, like, for six months, they were on some of these ingredients and they saw marked improvement in that.

Okay, I feel like I want to send her some. Oh, yeah, can we send her some?

Absolutely. I would love to.

I feel like she's been suffering her whole life in Virginia. 50 something woman. Yeah, let's send her some. I would love to go. Okay. Okay, we're gonna send you some, Amy. And we want. I hope this can help you because I want her to be having great sex.

I want her to get both probiotic and.

Okay, we're gonna send you some. Okay.

Yes.

Because we want you to have sex without the worry.

Yes, absolutely.

I know.

I mean, that creates a whole new worry.

Well, that's the thing. Whenever we're worried about all this stuff, then we can't. This is the stress about sex that we can't get into our bodies. Okay, so here's another one. Dear Emily, I'm a young man in his early 30s, and due to my gut issues, I have a lot of anxiety around receiving analysis. Know how can I best prepare to be clean and manage my stress and anxiety about butt stuff? All the best, Alex in Arizona. Well, first, I can tell you what I always say about butt stuff is that there's a lot of people who are worried about, like, how do I know I'm not gonna, like, you know, have an explosion all over the place? So I think that we all know we can all recognize our bowels. Like, we know when it's full and when we can empty it. I hope we also know when certain foods might trigger it. So, like, I'm not gonna go out for a big meal, let's say the night before or the day of, if I'm gonna have anal sex. So I feel like first, that's sort of a knowing ourselves thing. Like, know which food are your triggers? Is it meat? Is it dairy? Is it, you know, fried foods? Avoid all those things because then he starts having gut issues. But also, like, be with a trusting partner. You wanna make sure that you go slow, that you're warmed up, that you use a lot of lube. Like, all those things are really, really important. But Again, when I just hear him saying gut issues, in the past I wouldn't really have known, but when he says that now, it sounds like he's got a gut of shoes. And then that it can also, you know, be explosive, literally, because he doesn't know how to handle it. So I think it is knowing the food you're eating, knowing your triggers. But what else? Is there anything here that you would, would add to that?

Well, I think it would be the same thing about taking care of our gut because we know when you become regular, I mean, that's what's so exciting when you start to heal your gut is that you start to become regular. So there won't be any surprises or very few surprises, is you'll know when you're going to the bathroom. For the most part, you're. You become so regular it. And, and so that could be a solution.

And his anxiety around it is also not helping his gut issues.

Well, absolutely, yes.

Come on, you guys. It's all related. If we're worried it's in our gut.

Yes.

What do you feel? Anxiety.

Yeah, exactly. And then that your gut is sending those signals to the brain through the vagus nerve. You know, it's all vicious cycle related. It really is.

That's why the breathing and the relation and seeing that it's all related. And if you could do anything you can to calm yourself before any sexual activity before date taking a few deep breaths, moving your breath through your body. Well, you're doing incredible work. That's why I was so excited to talk to you. I think this is really going to impact so many people's lives, but their overall health and wellness and their sexual health. I can't wait to see what happens. Thank you for being here, Tina.

Oh my gosh, thanks.

Just thriving me.

I'm so excited.

This has been so fun. I'm going end to ask you the five quickie questions we ask all of our guests.

Okay.

No overthinking. Just the first thing that comes to your mind. Okay, you ready?

Your biggest turn on my husband's smile and like how much he loves me. Biggest turnoff negativity.

What makes good sex connection? Something you would tell your younger self about sex and relationships.

That is really healthy for you.

What's the number one thing you wish everyone knew about sex?

That your gut is also dictating your sexual health.

I want everyone to know that too. Thank you so much. Okay, so Tina, where can everyone find you and all the great work you're doing?

Oh, the best place is at our website@justthrivehealth.com and I think we actually have a coupon code for your listeners, which is Sex with Emily for 20% off the 90 day. So, you know, I'm so passionate about the 90 day staying on it. And so we have the 20 off. I usually only do like 15 off, but I'm like, we're gonna do 20 for the 90 day because. Because we really encourage people to stay on it for the 90 days.

Okay, I'm in it. I'm like a month in. But I want everyone to, if you can, try this out. And I want to know because I want to do my own research. Like, is it impacting your. Your life, your sexual health, like, all the things we've talked about. So thank you. That's very generous.

You bet. Thank you so much. It's been fun.

Thank you for being here. This is fun.

That's it for today's episode. See you on Tuesday. Thanks for listening to Sex with Emily. Be sure to, like, subscribe and give us a review wherever you listen to the podcast and share this with a friend or partner. You can find me on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Exwithemily. Oh, I've been told I give really good email. So sign up@sexwithemily.com and while you're there, check out my free guides and articles for more ways to prioritize your pleasure. If you'd like to ask me about your sex life, dating or relationships, call my hotline 559-talk-SEX. That's 559-825-5739. Or go to sexwithemily.com askemily Was it good for you? Email me feedbackexwithemily.com.

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